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EXTRACTS 

FROM THE 

SPEECH OF MMOm OF OHIO. 

\ “ 

delivered in congress, 1838, ON THE RESOLE- 
riON OF MR. HOPKINS 'PO DIVORCE THE GOVERN¬ 
MENT FROM TILL PRESS. 



^h^ BOND said he rejoiced that ilie attention of the House and 
ot'i!ie coiiiury was again invited to tlie subject of retrenchment and 
n;lorm. He was awiu-e that these terms had become somewhat 
hackneyed, and he almost feared that their frequent repetition here 
b-ui rendered them trite and unmeaning, 'i'liey had been used, as 
well as known, with great etiecl, to put down one Administration and 
<‘levate another. 'J’hat end being attained, they seemed to have per- 
I'ormcvl their ollice, so far at least as the party now in pon-er are con- 
fcnied. All must admit tliat we have had no jtractical retrencliment 
or reform. 

Was it really true, sir, that tlie expenditures of the Government 
were unnecessarily large? Had the President toomucli power, and 
was there a necessity for restraining it ? Was the ])atronao:e of the 
(iovernment so enormous as to require checks to be placed on it? 
Was this patronage used for political ends, especially tlie patronage 
of the press ? AVas it true that ilie freedom of the press and die se¬ 
curity of our liberty demanded that the printing patronage sliould be 
wiihdravrn from the several Departments, and the Stale Department 
in particular ? 

Ail these inquiries are suggested by tlie declarations and avowals of 
die present dominant party when they sought for elevation. But 
lost gentlemen may have forgotten the precise charges made against 
Mr. Adam’s Administration, I beg leave to read I’rom certain docu¬ 
ments of this House and of the Senate, in wliich these griefs and 
ftomplaints, with the promised reforms, are duly recorded. 

The first, in point of time, is a report made to the Senate in 1826, 
hy a select committee, (of which Mr. Benton was chairman,) “ to 
which was referred a proposition to inquire into the expediency of 
reducing the patronage of the Executive Government of tlie United 
States.” In this document Mr. Benton reports : 

“ That, after mature deliberation, the committee are of opinion that 
rt rs expedient to diminish or to regulate by law the Executive pat- 
fOiie^e of the Federal Government, whenever the same can be done 

?j 



censistently with the provisions of llio Constitution, and without irn-*. 
pairing the proper efficiency of the Government. Acting under lhi>j 
conviction, they have received as carefully as time and other eiigage-i 
ments would permit them to do, the degree and amount of ])alronago 
now exercised by the President and have arrived at the conclusion 
that the same may and ought to be diminished by law.” 

For this purpose that committee then reported six bills: one of 
them proposed to regulate the publication of the laws and of public 
advertisements ; anotlier had this tmposing title—a bull to ,se(.7?/ c 
■hiojjict the faithful collectors and disbursers of the revenue, and to 
dis])lace defaulters.” Put, besides its allurijig title, that bill also 
contained the following provision— 

“I'hatin all nominations made by the President to the Senate to 
fill vacancies occasioned by the exercise of the President’s power to 
remove from office, the fact of the removal sjiall be stated to the Sen¬ 
ate at the same lime the nomination is made, with a statement of the 
reasons for which such officer may have been removed.” 

'idle'Other four bills also looked to the restraint or reduction of tlie 
President’s power and patronage. It is unnecessary now to read 
them. 

Mr. Pond said that, notwithstandimr a series of years liad elapsed, 
and Mr. Benton and his friends had full power, the Peorde liad look¬ 
ed in vain for a supprstruclure on this “ foundation of a system of 
reform,” which the famous report proposed to have laid, h’hat sanno 
committee, too, assert and claim for the Senate “ the control over a}'- 
pointments to office,’, and say they “believe that they will be actiiia’ 
in tlie spirit of the Constitution in laboring to multiply ilic guards a.nd 
to strengthen the harriers against the possible abuse of power."' 
This is necessary, they say, where laws “ aio exectitod bv civil atul 
military officers, by armies and navies, ])y courts of jnsticc, and !)V 
the colloction and disbursement of revenue, witli all its train of sala¬ 
ries, jobs, and contr cts ; and where, in this aspect of the lealitv, wc: 
behold the working of patronage, and discover the reason vrhy so 
many stand ready, in any country and in all ages, to (lock to the 
standard of power, whea-osoever and by whomsoever it may be rain- 
ed.” The nurnber of offiice-holders is .spoken of as large and still 
rapidly increasing, am! the report proceeds—“ Each person employ¬ 
ed will have a circle of greater or less diameter, of wd'iich he is tiu' 
centre and soul—a circle of friends and relations, and of individuals 
employed by iiimself on public or on private account. By way of 
illustrating the great mnuber of office-holders and their combined 
power, Mr. Benton then turns to the “ Blue Book of the Republic,” 
whicli he calls “a growdng little volume,” and says it “ corresponds 
with the Red Bonk of Monarchies.” 

Mr. Speaker, this Blue Book is indeed a growing little volume.” 
hut it has grown more rapidly in tlie nine years of this government, 
athrdnistered under the advice of Mr. Benton niid his fiicnds, than 
ij: did in double that time, before tliey came into power. 1 preseiti 


3 


V 


ntjw., Sir, for your iuspect-iGii, the Blue Book of 1S2S, and inat ior 
the last year, 1837. 

It is plain lhattlie last is nearly or quite double the size of the for¬ 
mer ; and it the contents ot the two are compared, the number of 
ohice holders, their salaries and compensation, the various divisions 
and sub-divisions of every Ocpartment, it will be seen that, under 
this boasted system ol retrenchment and rei’orm, nothing has been 
curtailed, but, on the contrary a great increase in the number of ohice 
holders, with increased salaries, 'i’o this, too, is to be added a most 
alarming addition ill all the public expenditures of the country, great¬ 
ly exceeding in amount the expensesx)f tliat Administration which 
was charged as wasletul! And it' iliis state of things is not checked 
in time, we may yet realize that this Blue Book not only “corres¬ 
ponds witli,” but has actually bccoiiie the “ Ked Book of a Monarchy 
in this onr boasted republic !’’ 

Mr. Benton in liis report, exhibiis a list, taken from the Blue 
Book of 1825, of all the ofiicers, with their salaries, at the Custom 
house in tlie city of New York. 'I'he number thus given is one liun- 
dred and seventy-four, and tlie aggregate amount of their compensa¬ 
tion is stated S119,02() 39. He then exclaims— 

“ A formidable list, indeed !—formidable in numbers, and still 
more so from the vast amount of money in their Ji-uuls. The actiow 
of such a body of men, supposing them to be animated by one spirit, 
must be tremendous in an election ; and that they will be so anima¬ 
ted is a proposition too plain to need dcmonstratuni. Power over a 
nianks support lias always been held and admitted to be power over 
his will. 'Jhic President lias ‘power’ over the ‘support’ of all these 
officers, and they again have power over the sujiporL of debtor mer¬ 
chants to ti'.c amount of ten millions of dollars per annum, and over 
the daily support of an imnieiisc number of individuals, professional, 
mechanical, and day-laboring, to whom they can and will extend or 
deny a valuable private as well as public, patronage, ncciu’ding to the 
part they shall act in Stale as well as in Federal elections.” 

And to all this, the report still adds tlic Naval and Military Estab¬ 
lishment, the Judiciary, ib.e Post Office, and presses, with what it 
calls the “unknown and unkiiowiiable list of job'iers and contractors: 
and the still more inscrutable list of expectants who are waiting for 
“dead men’s shoes, and willing in the meanwhile to do any thing 
that the living men wdsli.’i? Having thus glowingly described the 
.state of patronage, and the subservient league and unprincipled devo¬ 
tion of the office-holders, Mr. Benton then says— 

“The power of patronage unless checked by tlie vigorous interpo¬ 
sition of Contrres-, must go on increasing, until Federal influence in 
many parts of this Confederation will predominate in elections as 
rmnpletely as Britksli influence predominates in the elections of 
Scotland and Ireland, in rotton borough towns, and in the great na¬ 
val stations of Portsmouth and Plymouth.” 

We arc also told by Mr, Benton that “ the whole of this groat 


4 


power will centre in the President,” and the report then Avarns the 
country in these impressive terms— 

“'I'he Kintr ol'Eii^laiid is the ‘fountain of honorthe President 
of the United Slates is ilie source of patronage. He presides over 
ihe entire system of Federal appointment, jobs, and contracts ; he 
has ‘ power’over tlie ‘support’of the individuals who administer 
the system. He makes and unmakes them. He chooses from llu^ 
circle of his friends and supporters, and may dismiss them, and, upon 
all the principles of iuiman action, will dismiss them as often as 
liiey disappoi.it Ins expectations. His sjiirit will animate their ac¬ 
tions in all the elections to State and Federal offices. 'J'here may he 
exceptions, hut the tiuth of a general rule is proved by the exception., 
'['his iirciided check and control of the IScnate, without new consti¬ 
tutional or statutory provisions, will cease to ojieratc. Patronage 
will penelraie this body, saXlue its capacity of resistance, chain it to 
the car of power, and enable the President to rule as easily and much 
more securely with than without the nominal check ol’ the Senate 

We must look forward to the time when the nomination of tiie 
Ih’csident can carry any man through the Senate, and his recommen¬ 
dation can curry any measure lliioiigh the two Houses of Congress; 
y.dien tlie princi})le of pu!)lic action will be open and avowed—the 
Pre.sidcnt wants my vote, and 1 want his patronage; I will vole as 
ho wishes, and lie will give me the oilice 1 wish for. What will this 
he but the Government of one man ! and what is the GoverumeiU of 
one man hut a monarchy 

Mr. Bond said he hoped the house would pardon him for reading 
from tliis report tlicse ])assages, which so happily illustrate the 
growth and power of patronage. 'J'liey were referred to for the pur¬ 
pose of sustaining the allegation wliich he had made, that the pres¬ 
ent dominant party professed to entertain serious feaiWor tire perpe¬ 
tuity or security ofour iusliluiions and liberty, if this public patron¬ 
age was not diccked or restrained by some statutory remedies, wliicli 
they subinitted for consideration and promised to adopt, at some con¬ 
venient season, if placed in power. Well, sir, they succeeded, and 
got the administration of our govennnent into their own hands'—and 
what has l!ie country realized? /J7/7/ the number of cusiom lioitse 
oj/icers at Aeio } erk has grown from 174 /o 414.' and llieir com¬ 
pensation is increased from 89 to $409,GG9 32! But be¬ 

sides tlicir slated compensation, it appears lliat in tlie year 183G the 
various subordinate ollicers of the Psew York custom liouse were al¬ 
lowed among them upwards of $53,000 ! And the Collector at Phi¬ 
ladelphia, during the same year, received beyond his salary upwards 
<»f $3,000 ; the same officer in Boston upwards of $2,300, and many 
others very considerable sums, whicli I will not take lime to specify. 

We thus realize the inordinate and dangerous increase in this 
branch of patronage, foretold by the report. What has been done to 
limit and restrain this patronage ? ‘Where is the statutory remedy, 
the hill which was reported for that purpose? Sir, it has had quiet 
te^> 06 e, and has never been heard of since the success of ‘the party.* 


5 


Tlie moment power was oljtalned, tlie admission made in the report, 
that the Senate had control over appointments, is denied in practice; 
and the ri^ht asserted by the committee, to call on tlie Piesitleni for 
iiis reasons in case of a removal from olFice, is now scoHed at and 
eontemned by Mr. lienton, Mr. Van iJuren, and the wliole fjarty 
who made or approved that report! Mr. Van B ireii was one of the 
committee by whom that report was made ; and yet he and his par¬ 
ty openly violate and disre^'ard every principle it nr;red ! He now 
liolds the ‘ pc)wer' over the ‘support’ of these train bands of ollice 
liolders at New York and throughout ilio country. ‘ He makes and 
unmakes them’—and ‘ his spirit will animate their actions in all elec¬ 
tions.’ Almost the first notice we have oftlic appointment of .Jesse 
Hoyt to the (,’olleetor's oliice in New York, is i!ie annunciation of 
iiis oflicial presence and activity iti the cliaf'ca- election of that city. 
AV o hear of him I'iV (lav and 'ov iiif;i-t. he idinT his coltort of 411 of- 
iiee holders, with the 1000 expee;ant«, aii i leading t!;em to the 
(dtarge !. Mr. Van 13LU'en to'1 us in t!i ^ report licit ‘ih.e action of 
such a body of men, supposing thcen to i)e aniina.ed by o’le spirit, 
must be tremendous in an c'i elion and tliat tiiey wonhl he so ani- 
matO(i, lie said, was ‘ a propt:: iiion too plain to uer 1 (ien.ioe.stration.* 
iJut I suppose he wisiics us to ludieve tlialinhis hands all lids power 
ami jiatronage will be harmless! 'i'he case of tiui New York Col- 
iector furnishes my answer to this; and if enotlier i!lnf;irationis need- 
xal. I refer you, Mr. Speakei’, to tli<^ appomtii’.ent ot Mr. \\ oil to the 
fCollector's Oifice in Philadelpliia. That 'Tentieman. you know, sir, 
•after holding the honoraith] place cd Governor of Pennsylvania, 
proudly called the Keystone hta'e, w:is seduced here lor a. jiallry 
(derkship. lu’ard recently tliat he was dissatisfied in the con¬ 

trast between the place iriven liim and tiiut provided for Ins political 
rival. (Mr. jMulih'iihuig.) (iovernor Wolf, it was said, had resolved 
to withdraw, and gave some indie tiou ol hosiiiiiy to tlie President. 
At this junctirfe the power of patronap- i^ invoked—the Collector at 
Philadelphia is made to take tlie clcrksiiipat Washing'on, and Gov¬ 
ernor Wolf’s opposition is quieted in the Golieetor’s olTice, thus va- 
(ated. In an instant a new alleiidance is sworn, and Governor Wolf 
initiates himself in his new ollice, by heading' a call for a political 
meeting in the city of Iiis ofiicial duties ! U ho does not see the pe¬ 
culiar titness of the suggestion before quoted from the report ot Mr. 
Van Buren and others of the select committee— 

“ The PreHidcDt ivanfs my vofr, and I ivant his pnfi'onage; f 
icill vote as he rrlshes. and he iriil y;ive me the njfiee / wish f orT 
Mr. Speaker, 1 will now add a remark or two, and pass from this 
report. Tlie committee who made it consisted of Mr. Benton, Mr. 
Macom, Mr. Van Buren, Mr. White, iMr. Findlay, Mr. Dickerson, 
Mr. Holmes, Mr. Hayne, and Mr. Pichard M. jolinson, all at the 
time the zealous friends of (General .lackson, except, perhaps, Mr. 
Holmes. Tliey urged the impropriety of appointing members of 
Congress to ofHce, and the expediency of providing against it. They 
dso told the country in that report, that the press, the post offic(i, 


G 


tiie arinctJ force, and tlic appointing power, were the niOst dangerous 
portions ofthe Federal Executive patronage. And they prol'essed to 
have found a remedy for tliese dangers in certain bills wliich they 
submitted. Tliey there tell us, too, that all this power is in tlie 
hands of the ih'csident and he is not in the hands of the people. In¬ 
deed, tliey say, “ the President tnay, and in the current of human at- 
fairs, u'ill be against the Peopled' and the coturlusion of tlie whole 
is, “ the safety of the People is the ‘supreme law,’ and to ensure 
that safety these arbiters of human fate (the press, the post otlice, 
the arme'l force, and the appointing power) must change jmsition, 
.and take post on the side ol' tlie peojde.” Mr. Speaker, we liavc 
found it true, indeed, that (he President is not in the hands of the 
People, and that lie will even turn against them ! Look, sir, to Mr. 
Van Bnren’s December message, and see the opprobrium which lie 
casts upon the people of his own Stale for daring to exercise tlicir 
elective franchise cotitrary to his will i Notwithstanding his profes- 
s-ioiis, and the jiledged faitii of his report, lie violently retains the 
control pfiiiese “arbiters of Jmman fate,” and will not snfier them 
“ to cliange posi'ien and take jiost on the side ofthe People !” 

Mr. Bond said he would next point the attention of gentlemen to 
what had passed in this Iloiise on the subject of relrciiclnrieut and 
reform ; and he regretted to tind such marvellous discrepancy be- 
twei.m the “ sayings and doings” of “ the party,” on that su!)j.ect.— 
’idle journaus cf the Uouse show that in Febiuary, 1828, a select 
committee was appointed to consider and report on tliis v.diole mat¬ 
ter : the gentlemen appointed were Mr. IJamilton, Mr. Ingliam, hlr. 
Fives, Mr. Mhckliiic, Mr. (dtamberleng, Mr. Sergeanland Mr. Eve¬ 
rett, all friends of General .Jackson, save tii{r= two last. They were 
cliargi'd to inquire into the whole macdiinery ofthe Government, with, 
a view to reduce its expenses and patronage, raid to correct all abuses. 
'Diey engaged in and devoted themselves to this task—their report, 

1 mean the report ofthe four avowed reformers, professed to the 
country that the public expenditures at liome and abroad were uiine- 
cessarity great; that every thing was done on too grand a scale ; that 
eacli department had too many clerk.s, and spent too much money; 
that this was also the case in Congress, whose sessions were need¬ 
lessly prolonged ; and, by wuiy of correcting this latter evil, they re¬ 
commended that “ the compensation of members, during tlie fust 
session of each Congress, lie reduced to two dollars per day, from 
and alter the lirst Monday in April, if Congress sliould sit beyond 
tliatday.” 

Mr. Bond said ho wonhl not read the report to the House, but he 
hoped this notice of it might aid in recallingit to public recollection^ 
whereby it would be seen how mudi had been ju’oposed and liow 
little had lieen done. Here,too, it will lie fouiid, that in concert witlr 
their co-laborers in the Senate, the IJousc reformers describe mosc 
grapliically the extent and power of patronage, and for all their dis-' 
covered abuses they suggest remedies. But, Mr. Speaker, great as 
tiiis work was represented to be, the geMcman: from New VorlW 


7 


Mr. ChaniDerleng, and his hiends, told the country in this report that 
they had only made a beginning, what in hunters’ pliiase is called a 
Uiere “ priming.” 'i'hey tlien inlorm us that nothing more in the 
way of reform could be done by them, until the People should drive 
■^rom the eitadel of power those who then Iield it, and place it under 
*tlie control of these zealous reformers, 'iMiis was done. This spe- 
■••ious report, like its twin-sister of the Senate, was trumpeted aloud 
i)y its friends, and at })uhlic expense, under the order of the House, 
many tliousand copies oi’it were scattered througiiout the country. 

The People read, and, honestly believing it, took the alarm, and pla¬ 
ced the reformers in power. 

And now, Mr. Speaker, after your undisturbed possession foriiin '' 
years, what lias been done ? Have you reduced any expenditure, 
^‘orrected any abuse, or provided any restraint on the power of pat¬ 
ronage ? No, sir, no. But, on the contrary your parly in power 
iiave made all public expenditures greater than before; you have 
practised the very abuses of power of wliich you complained, and 
have not provided any restraint on Executive patronage. 

Mr. B. said Pre resolution now under consideration still looked to 
reform, and especially to the correction of the abuse of power in 
regard to the public printing. The gentleman who oilers it, Mr. 
ilopkins, though acting with tlie Administration generally, is not 
blind to the abuse whicb may be committed. He is still demanding 
reform from principle, and is not satisfied that abuses have been cor- 
vected iiy a simple cr.ange of men. I am surprised, .Mr. Speaker, to 
•dnd this resolution opposed by the Administration, The g-entleman 
from New Hampshire, Air. Cushman, resists it on most extraordi- 
iiary grounds. He admits -abuses, but says it is impracticable to 
correct them, and liierefore useless to pass the resolution. 

Has lie forgotion that Isaac Hill, the present Governor of his own 
Stale, was the editor and publisher-of a newspaper called “ the New 
Hampshire Patriot,” and the discontinuance of the publication of the 
jaws in that paper, vras considered so outrageous a persecution for 
opinion'’s sake, that it may almost be said to have given him his 
sub.sequent political elevation and consequence? I'he discontinu¬ 
ance of Isaac I till as printer of the laws was occasioned, too, by liis 
jiuhlislihig a libel on llie imly of the President, without the least 
•semblance of truth, and so grossly indecent, that Air. Kandolph, 
though a zealous opposerof Air. Adams, said it ought not even to be 
vead on this floor. The occasion, however, was seized, to bring the 
•subject of public printing under discussion in this House, and Air. 
Saunders, of North Carolina, introduced a lesohnion caUing upon tlie 
Secretaiy of the State to report what changes had been made in tiie 
newspapers printing the laws, together with Ills reasons for suck 
clianges. A long and spirited debate followed; and as gentlemen 
•seem to ha\^ sucli imperfect recollections of the events of that day, 
some little reference may perhaps he usefully made to what was said 
in that debate. It will be observed that the resolution of Mr. Saim- 
and thase who supported it, required reasons to ibe given for a 


8 


removal from office. Since they came into power, however, that 
doctrine has been denied and repudiated. 

Mr. Bond said that lie proposed to prove by tliis debate, that the 
present Administration came into power declaring tliat the printing 
patronage of the Government was inordinate and dangerous ; that it 
ought to be restrained and regulated by law : and, in fine, promising, 
if elevated, to withdraw its exercise from the Executive hands, 'riic 
mover of that resolution (Mr. Saunders,) said : 

I trust { wull not be accused of getting up this call for the pur* 
pose of elTect, nor to be told this is a small business.” “ lie was 
not to be told that the pecuniary amount involved in this matter was 
too small to influence the editors of this country.” “ 'i'he total sum 
thus distributed, could not amount to less than between twenty and 
thirt}^ thousand dollars.” “ 'I'hcre were eighty-two papers employed 
in publishing the lawsit was not of the expense that he com¬ 
plained, but of the purpose by which it was controlled.” “it was 
thus calculated to operate, and did actually operate, so far as it went, 
to control the freedom of tlie press, and enlist, throughout the coun¬ 
try, that poweriul instrument in behalf of the views of the State 
Department. In this respect, it was much more elfectual and much 
more dangerous than the far-famed alien and sedition laws.” 

Mr. Saunders concluded by saying that it was his “ intention to 
take this power from tlie Stale Department, and place it elsewhere."’ 
A member from Tennessee, (Mr. Houston,) afterwards Governor of 
that Slate, and now tlie President of Texas, sustained Mr. Saunders' 
resolution, and denied tlie right of lire Secretary of State to cliange 
the publication of tlie laws for opinioti’s sake. He alleged that the 
jiractice of that Department “ had been to allow an individual wlio 
might be personally opposed to tlie views and opinions of the Head 
of the Department, if he was honest and capable as a public officer, 
to retain his place.” He asked, “ If changes had been made in order 
that the patronage of the Government may flow in a particular 
.channel ? Such a course would gag the free expression of o])in- 
ion.” 

Next came Mr. Hamilton, of Soutlr Carolina, the chairman of that 
retrenchment committee. 'I'he gentleman said : 

“These eighty-two presses would he put on the diet of a whole¬ 
some regemen, and in the course of a salutary discipline. M’hc sturdy 
and independent w'onld be turned out to be fed on sucli offiils as th(-v 
might be able to pick up, until the whole pack should be open in full 
liarraonious cry, in one common note, from the sturdy mastiffi tliat 
howls at the door of the 'I’reasury, to the most starving turnspit that 
barks on the farthest verge of tlie frontier.” 

Mr. Bond said he would not stop to inquire whether we did now 
realize, in the present official organ, tlie Globe, “tliat sturdy mastlif 
that howls at the door of the Treasary.” Mr. Hamilton continued : 

“ Is it necessary that the Executive sliould liave a (government 
press, to bo paid for by the people out of the public coffers, to suslain 
the measures' of the Administration, whether right or wrong ?” “ If,” 


9 


•said he, a Secretary of State can so apply the patronage of the 
(joveriuneiit as to nourish to venal accord cig]lty-t^vo presses in our 
cmintry to praise every thing the Administration should do, and 
«?ubject their proprietors to the loss of tliis patronage, if tliey dare to 
e42nsure its measures, this lorms distinctly a Government press, 
whicli is more alarming to the liberties of the people than the organi¬ 
zation ol the wliole of Gen. Brown’s army of six tliousand men, 
lormed into a guard ot tlie palace. If eighty-two presses can be 
made to speak as it were in one voice that all the Government doi^s 
is excellent, and all those who are opposed to them say is false and 
lactious, this constant combined and concerted language will soon 
liavc a tendency to make .those who hear little else believe all tliis is 
•true.” 

Air. Bond hoped tlie House would pardon him for this long 
extract. Mr. llamiUon, from whose speech it is tiiken, was at the 
time a friend of Gen. Jackson, and zi'alously engaged in elevating 
liim to power. In thus describing the Government patronage over 
the press, tliat gentleman said he was merely warning the counny ot' 
dangru’s which might he realized, if ,no re,si,raint was imposed on that 
jiatnmage. General Jackson was elevated, and i\Ir. Van Biiren suc¬ 
ceeded him, :md is now in power. Instead of eighty-two presses 
thu.s employed by the Government, lliey have now considerably 
upwards of one, hundred, and the jiatronage is held and exercised 
without any manner' of check or restraint. In this, curely, the coun¬ 
try vvas disappoiiited. 

But yon, also, Mr. Speaker, took a part in that debate, and warned 
tlie country of tlie danger of tliis patronage, and the necessity of 
rcstr.iining it. I hope, &%, it will not be out of order, to draw on 
your remarks, in aid of my present puipose. .'I'lie sentiments which 
you expressed are ncrfectly just, and must command the approbation 
of all im[)artial minds. 

I have preferred, sir, sustaining the resolution now under consir 
deration by tlie arguments and illustrations of the frienJs ol'General 
Jackson, rather than attempt any new suggestions. 

\ on will remember, iMr. Sjicaker, that some friend of Mr. Chiy. 
tlie then Secretary of State, intimated tiiat the resolution of ?vlr. 
Saunders savored somewhat of the Spanish inquisition. At this your 
indignation was aroused, and yon exclaimed : 

“ Inquisitorial sir ! And has the time arrived in llie country when 
it is deemed inquisitorial respectfully to ask a public oliicer, who is 
responsible to the people whose representatives we are, for the pub¬ 
lic reasons (not the private motives) of bis public conduct I Is it 
insulting to demand of a public oflirer to explain and account for his 
conduct I Is the transatlantic doctrine, that “ the King can do no 
wrong,” to be introduced here ? 'riiough we have no alien and sedi¬ 
tion laws, are we to have what is tantamount to them ? Are the 
public functionaries of the Government to be wrapped up in the robes 
of office, and to be held irresponsible, to the people or the peojilebs 
representatives? And are all tkose who havg firmness and independency^ 


10 


Pnouffh fearlessly to inquire into the conduct of public raer}»‘ 
and the manner in which the public money is expended, to be de-* 
nouncedby the partizans and servile adherents of the house that now 
reigns, as factious oppositionists? Sir, (yon continued, Mr. 
Speaker,) this power of appointing the public printer is improperly 
lodged where it is. It is, to say the least of it, subject to abuse, and 
may he improperly used for the purpose of muzzling and inlluencing 
tlie liberty of the press. 

ddiat being the case, yon propose, sir, “ to remove this power of 
appointment from liio Department of IState, and set it somewhere 
else, where It would be more safely and properly exercised.” I’lie 
(ajuiiti'}' is aware, Mr. Speaker, that you have continued to Ire a^'^nem- 
her of this House ever since yon made the remarks just quoted, now 
more than eleven years. Some expectation was cherislied that you 
would, when in a majority here, practice under these o})mions, and 
remove this printing patronage “ from the Department of State, and 
vest it somewhere else, wliere it would be more properly exercised.” 

I am sorry? sir, that t.his])nblic expectation has been disappointed. 

1 can only account for it by supposing that your various political 
engagements and high public station have withdrawn your attention 
from this important subject. Tiiere is some consolation, however, 
in knowing that you have now an opportunity of redeeming your 
pledge, and the mends of retrenchment and reform indulge the hope 
tliat you will do it. 

I hope you, sir, will not think this an “ inquisitorial” measuie ? 
It is, indeed, true that when the representatives of the people, during 
the last session of Congress, attempted tr^ook into the departments 
of the Gevernrneut, Gen. Jackson openly resisted it, ami said such a 
measure was “ woi^se than the Spanish inquisition.” IVlore, sir : lie? 
in efiect, gave orders that it should not he tolei’ated. Mr. l::?ppaker, 
(lid not your cheek then mantle with indignation ?—and if you had 
lield a seat lisre, instead of the chair you occupy, would you not have 
again exr^.laimed, ‘‘ Is the {ransatlanlic doctrine, that ‘ the King can 
(lo no wrong,’ to be introduced here ?” Or were you consti-ained to 
admit that, under the boasted system of reform, “ lire public 1‘unc- 
lionarics of the Government” are now “ wi’npped up in die robes of 
vhlice,” and “ held irresponsible to the people or the people’s renre- 
sentatives ?” 

Mr. B. said he hoped he had, by this time, furnished some evi¬ 
dence to iliC House, and to the gentleman from New Hampshire, 
(Mr. Cushman.) in particular, diat the exercise of this printing pat¬ 
ronage by Mr. Adams’ Administration, was not only questioned, but 
■openly Condemned. Tire friends of Gen. Jackson, so far from pre¬ 
tending t’nat it was impracticable to correct the abuse of this power, 
■pledgeil themselves to the country, that they ('ould and would, when 
in a majority, provide a remedy. He would submit it to the 
people to say, whether this had been done. Was it not notorious 
ihat the extent of this printing patronage liad been greatly enlarged 
Under the present dominant party ? Is not the number of newspapers 


11 


ill which the laws are' printed very considerably increased ? lif 
not the ordinary printing patronage of the several departments far 
«:rcater now than formerly '{ And, as to the public printing for Con¬ 
gress, it had so swollen, under the promised retrenchment, that we 
were almost induced to believe that the term was used in irony by 
those from whom the people expected economy. 

I now propose, IMr. Speaker, to show what seductive rnfmences 
this patronage over the press carries with it; and, for this purpose, 

1 must again invoke the aid of the Jackson reforms, using their own 
arguments, and the very language in which they admonished tim 
country of the base uses wliicli would he made of this }>ower. I 
hope the gentlemen will remember the remarks made on this subject, 
and whieli I have already given to the House, from the speech of 
Mr. Hamilton, tiie chairman of the committee on reform. I reserved 
lior the present branch of the argument, a peculiaily striking and 
doserijiiive passage in the speecli of Mr. Hbuston, before alluded to. 
He undertakes to describe an honest, independonl editor, of good 
priiK'iples, and deserved inlluence, and then adds, that such an editor 
as this, 

“ Jlay not be disposed to liow or bend his principles for the sake 
of supporting a particular Administration or individual. It may lie 
necessary to certain plans and interests, that siicli a man as this 
should be gagged or prostrated. In that case, a very politic course 
would be to start a new paper some few months bel’ore new patron¬ 
age is to be conferred ; to use every exertion to obtain for it a snlhcierit 
number of subscribers; to take measures tiiat, at all iiaz'ards 
the paper lie sustained; tlien lo gel for the editor some true and 
linsty fellow—a fellow that will ‘go the whole;’ who is troubled 
with no principles on any subject, but who'will support a certain 
interest ‘ through thick and thin;’ who will pursue no course of Ins 
own, but will ever be ready to take liiS cue Ironi a certam quarter. 
After getting him some one or two liundred subscribers, and using 
( 3 verv expedient to make him some character, he must then have the 
printing of the laws, as a token of the confidence of the' Government, 
and then all will he ready for action. Sir, 1 will not say that such 
a ju’ess is to be established and paid for out of die eoutingeiit iund; 
i am not warranted in such an assertion ; hut I Say that such a 
i)eginner must have patronage, although it be in direct opjiosition td 
the interest and wislies of tlic people.” 

Thus spoke Mr. Houston in 1827. Tietiis direct our attention to 
the ollicial ne\vspa])er, the Globe, and see it Air. Houston has not 
most aptly described “ its rise, progress and present state.” 

We know, sir, that at the c'ommencenient of Gen. Jackson’s Ad-^ 
ministration, the otllcial newspaper was the United States Telegraph./ 
])iii.)lished by Duff Green. Things went on pretty smoothly foi' 
awhile, and until, as was said, some jealous rivalry sprung up 
between the Vice President of tlie United States and the present 
President, Mr. Van Buren, who was the Secretary of State. It wn? 
^did Green was suspected of cherishing a Stronger partiality hr thd 


12 


Vice President than for the Secretary of State. But I do not profcw? 
to be familiar with the causes of this family jar. Report said thuft 
the Teleffraph was not discontinued abrupdy, as the otlicial organ, 
but was gradually supplanted by the Globe, and its editor, Francis 
P. Blair, brought here for that j)urpose from Kentucky. Among th« 
means resorted to for this jjurpose;, ;as complained of by the 'I'elc- 
graph, were orders or recpiesis to various postmasters throughout 
the country to furnisl* lists of its subscribers, 'idle Globe was then 
sent to them, claiming to have the special contidenee of the party.— 
in this way it was initiated into favor among the subsscribers ol the 
'Telegraph, and in due season the latter paper was wholl 5 ^ abjured. 

1 have no knowledge of all the measures taken, “ that at all hazards 
Lhe paper be sustained,” and will leave it for others who know Fraii’ 
■cis P. Blair better than 1 do, to determine whether the Adndnistra' 
tion, ill furuisliiiig an editor for the (Robe, succeeded in getting a 
“ true and trusty iellov/, a fellow that will ‘go the whole,’ who is 
troubled with no principles on any subject, but who will support a 
certain interest ‘through thick and thin.’” 'i'his I know, that llu; 
Administration fostered and rherished the Globe with an immense 
amount of patronage, and in that way gave i‘ strength and iidluenee. 
'i’hat paper was first published in 1831. The whole amount paid 
for jirinting by tlie Exeeuiive Department in 1832 and 1833, was 
>3113,340 21, of which $47,2<15 42 were paid to the Globe, and the 
residue to various other printing establishments, editors and publish¬ 
ers tlirougliont the United States. In lb34 and 1835, the whole 
mnount so paid was b‘83,9()6 50 ; of which sum a part, sav 
640,473 16, was p<nd to the Globe, and the residue again divided 
ns before. For the next two years, ending with September, 1837, 
the several Executive Departments paid out, for printing, the enor¬ 
mous sum of 6142,804 03 ! Of this the Globe received $24,381 21. 

• mid the balance was divided and subdivided—^-tlie spoil b/cing thus 
given in diue proportions among the whole pack, from “ the sturdy 
mastiff ihat howls at the door of the 'i’reasury,” lowii “ to the 
most starveling tunisjiit that barks on the iarthest verge of our Don- 
tier.” 

But it will be observed that, so far, I have stated the amount of 
the Executive patronage of the press only. In December 1835, the 
Globe obtained tlie printing for the Thnise of Representatives, and 
for the two years ending on the 30th September, 1837, its editors or 
publishers were paid, on tliat account. $105,914 53!! it thus 
appears that, for the histsix years, the Globe newspaper has received 
from the Goveriinient, as the puhlished docunieiils prove, nearly 
$2‘40,00(). What it has received indirectly, and from olhcediolders 
and expectants, no one can tell. I will not designate each of tiiv 
innumerable host of editors and printers on whom this patronage has 
been showered. Many of them have received small sums; otlieis, 
Hgain, do not quite equal the Globe editors ; but I M'ill name a few 
V-hp seen^ .to be among the prefejrcd, and then leave it for their 


13 


readers to say whether their papers can be supposed to be under the 
wholesome lefrimen of Treasury diet. 

o v 

[ tiiid that II 1 II&; Barton, of New Hampsliirc, liave received, iw 
aliout six years, between $7,000 and $8,000. During the same tim^., 
Nliadiack Penn, jr., of Kentucky, has been paid $10,000, nearly the/ 
lialf of which has been paid within the last two years. During the 
.same time, the lirms of True & Green, of Charles G. Green, and 
Beals & Green, of Boston, have been paid 70! In the 

course of two years, Medary (C iManypenny were paid $2,958 GO, 
Paine & Clark $2,837 53, iMilllin (C Parry, of Philadelphia, 
$1,822 20, Medary, Keynolds & Medary, $1,584, and JSarnuel 
Medary Brothers, all of Ohio, $2,002. All these payments were 
made by the PostOflice Department, and in addition to this printing 
jiatronage, some of these parlies enjoyed advantageous contracts in 
the same Department, for the supply of “ paper and twine,” con¬ 
nected with their printing of blanks, 'rhese contracts for “ blanks, 
j)apcr, and twine,” when examined, as they were by the committee/ 
of investigation, disclosed the practice of most reprehensible partiality 
ill the Postmaster General for certain political lavorites. 1 have not 
(examined to see if the other Departments did not simultaneously 
bestow a part of their printing patronage on the same individuals.— 
'Phis further fact however, is disclosed by the printing accounts of 
these Departments ; that for some time past, they have thrown large 
j»ortions of their jiatronage into the hands of Langtree (C O’Sullivan, of 
this city, who are publishing a periodical journal, the “ Democratic 
Review,” which professes to be a literary work, but, at the same 
time, devotes its columns to the cause and defence of the Adminis¬ 
tration, with a zeal equalled only by the Globe, and in at least one 
of its articles recently published, shows as little regard for justice 
.and trutli, I think, as that paper does. 

The Executive })atronage of the press was' one of the great chap¬ 
ters of reform into which the famous relrenchqifnt report of this 
Ifotise was divided. It ts there stated as an alarming fact, that the 
amount paid for printing and advertising “by the Executive Depart¬ 
ment at the seat of Government for the fthen] three last years, (1825, 
182G and 1827,) and by the General Post OHice, in two years, was 
$71,830 51.” In the same report, we are also told that the printing 
for Congress, the Senate and llouse included, from March, 1819, to 
December, 1827, being a period of eight years, amounted to $271,-- 
883 37. These were thought to be extravagant expenditures, and 
retrenchment demanded and promised. 

For the six vears ending on the 30th September, 1837, the seve¬ 
ral Executive Departments, inclusive of tlie General Post Office, 
paid out $340,116 37 for their printing. In order to get three years, 
*!o as to compare with the term and amount before stated by the com- 
nuttee, let us take half of the $340,116 37, say $170,058 18 

Deduct the amount staled by the committee, 71,830 51 


.4iaount of increase every three years by the reformers, $98,227 67 



i^also find, that in six years, ending on the SOth day,of (Scp^-nv 
jber, 1837, tlie printing for Congress, tJenate and House, and inclii^ 
^sive of certain land documents, books, and engraving, amounling 
^751,584 02. Let us deduct the amount reported by t!ie committee 
as paid tor tlie saine object in eight years by the Administration 
which was condemned for its extravagance—that was t$271.88,3 37. 
That operation will show that the liiJormerH have paid, in the h'gis.- 
lative patronage of die press $479,701 25 more in'six years than tlie 
AVhig party paid in eight years ! ! 

Having thu|) sliow.ii the amount of, and how this patronage is now 
used by the Executive, it will be appropriate to see what the friend's 
of Gen. Jackson said would be the ('Oiisequeiice of such use. 4'lie 
committee, in their report, speak of the moral mechanism upon wliich 
this patronage acts “ as a power that seems irresistible,” and say 
they “ v/ill not stop to argue what they predicate as an undeniable 
lact, that, by the einployment of the expenditures of the contingent 
funds of the departments, a Government press is to all intents and 
purposes cfiectually established, as much so as if there were an an¬ 
nual item in the ajipropriation bill for the purpose of purchasing the 
joint and harmonious action of one .hundreil papers in the uncompro¬ 
mising vindication of those in power, and in the unsparing abuse of 
those who are not.” And in the debate already referreil to, Mr. 
Hamilton, one of the reibrmers, in speaking of payments for tlie ser¬ 
vices of the press, observed “ When the Goveniinent becomes lh(* 
paymaster for these services, the evil is infinitely augmented. Fm-, 
what are the services which the press under such circumstances is 
expected to render as a return for the partial kindness of the Govern¬ 
ment? W'diy, to cover all their apjiroaches to arbitrary power ; to 
defend each measure of misrule and corruption; to find excuses and 
apologies for every act of imbecility, although the interest and honor of 
the country may be jeoparded by ignorance, apathy or neglect; but 
above all, to subjer^phose who do not think ‘ the existing powers 
entitled to the confidence of the People to the most unsparing calum¬ 
ny and alnise.” 

jMr. Speaker, have wo not felt and seen the sad reality of all this 
for the last nine years, hut more particularly since Mr. Van Biiren 
undertook ‘the improvement of the press,’ and a display of its licen- 
:;ous power in the hired columns of the Globe ? \Vlio has not been 
disgusted with the coarse and ‘ unsparing calumny’ from day to dav 
]>onred out upon members of Congress, and of the Senate, in parlico 
lar, who happened to think that ‘the existing powersw ere not enti¬ 
tled to the confidenceof the People ?’ W’iio has not seen the attempt 
in the Government jiress to break down the influence and power of 
‘ memher-i ol Congress,’ and to cut them off by hireling scribbles.?, 
paid directly or indirectly for performing tlie task?’ Does not the* 
Globe constantly charge Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, Mr. Southard, and 
other Senators as being paid by and under the influence of the Bank 
of the United States, when engaged in the discharge of their high con¬ 
stitutional duties ?’ And when these foul slanders are howled 


15 


^le throat of the ‘ sturdy mastifT,’ at the door of tlie Treasury, do 
tile \yhole kennel, ‘ Tray, Blanche, and Sweetheart, little dogs aiul 
idl,’ even to the ‘most starveling triinspit that barks on the larthesi 
verge of our frontier,’ re-epho tlie souiid ? The Jackson leforiner, 
Mr. Floyd, spoke of the slanders on nienibers of Congress and oil 
tHher men elsewhere. Wliy, sir, we daily experience that and more, 
'.riie I’resident and his press have gone on from time to time caiiim- 
iiiating meinlierf? of Congress and others, individually, and at lengili 
have got to slandering the Fepple in a body—a kind of wiiolesaki' 
slaiuler business. If a Congressional district, in the free exercise of 
its (jonslitulional right, elect a iiicmber who will not ‘bow and do 
olicisance to the party,’ he is at once proclaimed to he the feed attor¬ 
ney of the bank, and the people of tlie district are stigmatized as 
‘ reprieved diditors.’ 

I’he prolonged sessions of Congress formed a conspicuous chap- 
t(‘r in the book of reform. The committee denounced the usaoe as 
‘ one of the most serious evils attending the national legislation of the 
country and. by way of correcting it, recommended ‘ that the eom- 
pensatio:i of the members, during the first session of eacli Congress, 
bo reduced to two dollars per day from and after the first IMoiHiay in 
April, if (Congress sliould sit beyond that time.’ 'I'his was the grtr 
cept.—now tfir the jiractice. The sessions of (.’ongress, so iar lroi>,i 
beino' shortened, have been prolonged, no remedy applied, and the 
}>eoplc of the country ought to know that tlie gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Cambreleng) so early as March, 183t>, when an attempt 
wa.s made to carry into ell'ect the remedy proposed iji the report of 
tlie committee 6f whicli he was a niemher, by reducing the pay of 
members, did. himself actually resist and vote against the measure. 

'j'he report alleged that abuses had ‘ taken place from the various 
arud arbitrary manner ill which memiiers estimated their mileage.’ 
'This abuse was ascertained to liave been' practised by the reformers 
themselves ; and they have continued the practice without any re¬ 
straint. I will give you,, sir an illustration, which may not bethought 
inappropriate. In tlie days of promised reform, the two Senators 
from the state of Missouri dilTered in politics ; one of them, the 
groat reformer, Air. Benton ; the other, Mr. Bartoji, v\]io tliougiit the 
]):omispd reform was a mere humbug. The first session of the twt:!!- 
tielli Conirress commenced the .3d of December, 1827,,and ended 
mi the 2Gth of iMay, 1328. These gentlemen severally attended the 
wiiole session; tlieir per diem allowance was S 1,400 each, heii>^ 
175 days, at 88 per day; hut for mileage, reckoning lor every 
‘X) miles, Mr, Barton charged 8939 20, whilst ?vTr. Benton cliarg^d 
81,34'f GO. 'Sir. Barton charged his mileage by the great mail route, 
over laud ; but I\Ir. Benton, who was railing out and condemning all 
;vl)uses, counted Ids miles by all the crooks and turns and tortuous 
winding's of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers ! Mr. Barton was left 
at home because he did not believe in the propriety of professing one 
iliing and practising another; ahJ vlt’f Benton \vas ictained to correct 



16 


Ji!)uses and carry out the great pnnciples of Ins report on Exeew- 
live patronage. 'I’en years have intervened since the session of Con¬ 
gress just referred to. The report sleeps unheeded. And, in the 
mean time, Mr. Benton continues to count his miles every year by 
the way of the river, which lias given him upwards of $4,000 mopo 
than Mr. Barton felt authorized to charge under the same law. 

Another precept. —The committee reported that ‘ the privilege ot 
newspapers to the members ought to be abrogated and ‘ that tire 
practice too often indulged in by the House of voting to themselves 
copies of books,’ ought to be discontinued. The privilege and prac¬ 
tice continue, and without restraint. 

• Precept. —'J’hc contingent expenses of this House were reported 
to be extravagant. During the year, 1828, the last of Mr. Adams’ 
administration, they amounted to $80,000. 

Practice. —During the year 1836, the last year of the .Tackson 
reform administration, this item v.^as $200,000 ! And during the 
year 1837. being tlie first year of the ‘ successor,’ who promised, fo 

• tread in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor,’ these expenses 
are $210,000 ! 'i’liis must bo the magician's way’ of working in tin? 
rule of reduction—it was certainly unknown to old Thomas Dil- 
worth. 

Precept. —The committee, of which, I again repeat, the gentleman 
I'rom New York (Mr. Camhreleng) was a member, reported that 
they had obtained information by which they were satisfied ‘that by 
a judicious system of reform, instituted by the Executive odicers 
themselves, at least ()ne third of the (thgn) present number of clerks 
in the departments might be reduced with safety to the public inte¬ 
rest.’ 

Practice. —'Fhe number of clerks has not been reduced in any 
one of the departments, but, on the contrary, there has been a con ¬ 
siderable increase. I will prove it. 'Bhe State Department, in the 
year 1828, included the Patent Office, and the whole number of 
clerks was sixteen; the salary and compensation of the $Iccretary 
and all his clerks and messengers, amounted to $27,760. 

The whole number of clerks now employed in the State Depart¬ 
ment and the Patent Office is forty. The joint salaries and compen¬ 
sation amount to $56,51.6 ! ! ! 

'Fhe Patent Office, in 1828, Avas managed by a Superintendent, 
with a salary of $1.500, and twoclerks and a messenger, Avhose joint 
compensation Avas $3,700, It is now under the charge of one of the 
reformers ; the title of ‘ Superintendent’ is exchanged for that oi 
‘ Commissioner ;’ and Avith the change of titles comes the change of 
salary, from $1,500 to $3,000 ! The number of clerks is increased 
from two to twenty-four, and the compensation from $1,800 to $21,- 
000 ; and, not content Avith one messenger, and his old salary ot 
$400, they provide a salary of $840 for a messenger, and then giAJi3 
him an assistant, to Avhom is also paid $15 per montli. 

The Secretary of the Treasury, in the year 1828, employed eighl 


17 


<^lfcr'ks and two messengers. Ills salary, and the compensation ot‘ 
Ihe clerks and messengers, amounted to $18,000. 

’’J'iie present Secreiary of that Department, (and he was taken 
from the body of reformers, who made proclamation from the Sen¬ 
ate chamber,) employs tiflcen clerks and two messengers. Ills saha- 
ry and their compensation amount to $27,100!! A similar result 
will he found in eompaiing the present with the former state of the 
several subdivisions of the 'Treasury department. But, by way of 
‘ introducing economy and despaUdi in the 'Treasury Department;’ 
the committee proposed to ‘ simplify the forms of business, and to 
re-organize its subordinate branches, so as to dispense with one 
I’ourth, if not one third, of the officers in the 'Treasury.’ Now, sir, 
no re-organization of the Department has yet been attempted. Instead 
of reducing, they have increased the number of officers; and the 
forms of business, under the new mode of simplifying, have become 
so complicated, that the gentleman from New York, (Mr. Cambre- 
leng,) now chairman of the committee on ways and means, declared 
here, during the last special session, that, after fifteen years’ experi¬ 
ence as a member of this House, he found it difficult to understand 
these Treasury accounts, and the manner in which the Secretary’s! 
annual report on the finance is stated !! 

Next, as to the Yvar Department. In 1828 the Secretary of Vvmr 
employed a chief clerk, besides seventeen clerks and two messen¬ 
gers. liis salary and their compensation amounted to $28,650.— 
'i'he business of Indian allhirs was then managed liy him also. In 
18x18 the Secretary of that Department employs, inclusive of the In- 
diiiM business, about forty clerks, besides imessengers. 'The joint 
.salaries and compensation of the whole amount to $63,810. 

In ]’'82S, we hear nothing of Commanding General’s Office, with 
its derk and messenger. 

Til 1838, the Commanding General is allowed a clerk, at $1,200 ; 
and a messenger at $600 per year. 

Ill 1828, the Adjutant General’s Office employed three clerks, 
whose joint compensation was $2,950. 

In 1838, the Adjutant General employs seven clerks and a mes¬ 
senger, whose joint compensation is S8,225. 

In 1828, the ]*a} master General employed three clerks, whose 
Amited compensation was $3,900. 

In 1838, the salary of the same number of clerks is $4,290, be¬ 
sides the messenger’s salary. 

In 1828,1 have been unable to discover any allowance for clerW 
ito the Quartermaster General. 

In 1838, that officer employs in the office at Washington seven 
derks, Vvdiose united compensation is $7,300, 

In 1828, the Ordnance Office employed three clerks, whose joint 
salary was $2,950. 

In 1838, the Ordnance Office cmpIo 5 ’’s nine clerks, besides a mes¬ 
senger, aiid their aggregate compensation is $9,225. 


18 


In 1828, the Siibsistance Department employed four clerks, wtec 
joint compensation was $2,950. 

In 1838, the Subsistence Department employs four clerks and a 
messenger, whose joint coinpensation is $5,880. 

In 1828, the Surgeon General was allowed a clerk, at $1,150 per 
year. 

In 1838, the Surgeon General is allowed a clerk, at $1,266, and 
a messenger at $600 per year. 

^ In 1828, the business of Indian affairs was discharged at the War 

Department, by some one or two of the seventeen clerks which I first 
mentioned. 

In 1838, this Indian business appears to constitute a grand division. 
We now hear of tlie ‘ Indian Department,’ with a Commissioner, 
whose salary is $3,000, a cliief clerk, at $1,600, and eleven clerks 
and two messengers, the joint compensation and salaries being 
$19,400. 

In 1828, there was one Superintendent of Indian affairs, who was 
paid $1,500 a year, twenty-one Indian agents, twenty-eight sub¬ 
agents and thirty-nine interpreters. 

In 1838, we find four ‘superintendents of Indian affairs,* with 
salaries of $1,500 each per year; six ‘ superintendents of emigration,’ 
with salaries of 82,000 each per year; tea ‘ Indian agents,’ with sala¬ 
ries of $1,500 each per year, fourteen sub-agents,’ witli 

salaries of $750 per year; thirty-three ‘commissioners and special 
•agents,’ wlio are paid from $5 to $8 per day, and from $1,500 to 
$3,000 per year; ffteen ‘conducting and enrolling ^ents,’ at $3, 
$4 and $5 per day ; two ‘ conductors of exploring parties,’ at $3 and 
$5 per day ; two ‘ valuing agents,’ at $4 each per day ; eight ‘col¬ 
lecting agents,’ at $2 50 per day each ; Uvo ‘ issuing agents,’ at $1 
per day each ; one ‘ disbursing agent,’ at $5 per day ; sixteen ‘ assis¬ 
tant agents,’ at $3 and $4 per day, and from $500 to $1,200 each 
per year; thirty-one ‘interpreters at agencies, at $300 each per year; 
fourteen ‘ interpreters in the emigration of Indians,* at $2 50 and $3 
per day eacli; ffteen ‘ physicians,’ at salaries varying from $3 $5 
and $6 a day to $84 per month ; eleven ‘ clerks,’ (other than those 
in the office at Washington) at salaries varying from $3 and $5 per day 
to $40 and $50 per month, and $800 and $1,000 per year; fifty- 
three ‘ blacksmiths,’ with salaries varying from $240 to 600 per year; 
twenty ‘farmers and assistants,’ at 2, 3, 5 and $600 per year: 
eighteen ‘ teachers,’ with various salaries from $500 to $800 per 
Tear ; five ‘ millers,’ with salaries of $500 and $600 ; one ‘ surveyor,’ 
at $8 per day; the whole concluding with fve ‘ miscellaneou>» 
agents,’ with salaries of $1 per day, and $600 per year. 

But even this is not all. 'I’lie Commissioner of Indian airaii*s 
says the list given by him in the Blue Book is not accurate or com¬ 
plete. He leaves room to add or alter. Here, indeed, is a display 
of patronage 1 Ought we not to be astonished to find this state of 
things, under an Administration whose friends professed to be. 
ftliocked at a multiplication of offices, and republished, in tlie report 


19 


CliLs House in 1828, tlie warning of that Chief Magistrate, who 
Considering the general tendency to multiply offices and 
dependencies y and to increase expense to the iiltiinaie term of burden 
which ttie citizen can bear, it behooves us to avail ourselves of every 
occasion which presents itself for taking olT the surcharge.” It is 
appropriate, too, now, to refer gentlemen to the censure which that 
report cast on the Secretary of War in 1828, for paying ^753 for addi- 
ticwial clerk hire in the business of Indian affairs. 

Mr. II. said he was here tempted to name one or two offices in 
pavlicular, wliicli seem to have been created for special favorites; 
one of them under the law authorizing the President to sign land 
patents by an agent, instead of doing it as lieretofore, in person. If 
he could not find time to do this duty, as Mr. Adams and all his pre¬ 
decessors did, then it would have been better to dispense with the 
jsignature altogether, as you have done with that of the Commissioner 
•of the General Land Oiiice. 'I’he President’s name is now not even 
written by his proxy, as it should be, but is written by some clerk 
in tlie Land Office, and the whole service of the proxy or agent con¬ 
sists in liis writing his own name ! For this he is paid }^1,500 per 
rmnura ! ^Vie place is held by one of the President's sons, and it 
h an indirect mode of increasing the President's salary. The com- 
pejixsation is too high, under any circumstances. Tor a service 
requiring neither skill nor talent, and employing a very small por¬ 
tion of this young gentleman's time, he receives a higher salary 
than many of the Governors and other high officers in the several 
istates do I 

Another office especially created is that of the ‘Smithsonian agentp 
with a salary of $3,000 a year, and furnishing a convenient sojourn 
for a gentleman wishing to visit London. I'he duties of this place 
might well have been discharged by ordinary correspondence, but at 
all events they are such as could justly be required at tlie hands of 
eair resident Minister at I^ondon. It cannot be overlooked that 
Richard Rush was Secretary of the Treasury, and received the 
sensure and condemnation of the retrenchment committee. And 
yet Mr. Kush was appointed to the office of the Smithsonian agent. 

\ will leave it for others to apply what the chairman of the commit¬ 
tee on retrenchment said at that day, in debate on this floor,— 

Whenever an office is to be filled, even a zealous, constant and 
faithful friend is compelled to yield to a mushroon apostate, that 

MAY HAYS BEEN PURCHASED BUT YESTERDAY. 

Let U8 next compare the Navy Department. Mr. Southard, who 
wa6 Secretary of the Navy in 1828, employed in his Department 
SNBven clerks, besides the chief clerk. The salary of the Secretary, 
jjid the compensation of the clerks and messengers, amounted .1» 
$17,250. The Department has been held for many years, and U 
still managed by Mr. Dickerson, who was a member of the commit- 
iitt, in the Senate, from wliom came tliat famous report on Executive 
patronage, to which I first leferred. He employs eight clerks besides 
clerk ; and his salary, with the compeyaiition of his 


20 


and messengers, amounts to $18,850. And, at this very session^ hr 
ilemands more clerks, and an increase in the salary of some of those 
he already has. 

The committee censure ?dr. Secretary Southard for iinneces-. 
sary expenses in subscription for newspapers for tlie Department,. 
They specify, under this head, $G24 43,. for three years. It now 
appears tliat Mr. Secretary Dickerson has expended, for newspaiicrw 
and fashionable books and literature of the times, in one year, near 
$700 ; and, including* similar expenses of the Navy Boaid, iieur 
$950. 

Tlie committee also condemn the practice of extra clerk hire.— 
We find Mr. Dickerson not only employing three extra clerks, but,^ 
what is far more dangerous, paying extra hire to one of the regular 
clerks in the Department, enjoying, at the time, a salary of $i,7()0. 
hut to whom is paid, ‘for extra services as clerk,’ the further sum ot 
$429 67, making his salary $2,189 G7. Is not this a ready niodo 
of providing for a favorite ? 

The committee also specify the sum of $406 86, as paid by the 
Navy Department, in three years, for printing, and condemn it as: 
extravagant. 

The Blue Book of 1837 shows the Navy Department, under the* 
reformer, Mr. Dickerson, to have paid $9,558 22 for printing in tu'o 
years ! 

The committee also reported that a “ considerable sum, varying 
from $100 to $200, was annually expended by the Secretary of the 
Navy in the purchase of hooks for his oflice, most of them having no 
appropriate relation to the naval service of tlie country, such nij 
reviews, magazines and other periodical publications, ami the fash¬ 
ionable literature of the day.” This usage was, of course, to hg, 
abolished. Has it been ? I beg leave to read a few items from Mr. 
Secretary Dickerson’s contingent expense account lor 1837 : 


C7 1 -- 

2d volume Repertory of Patent Inventions, $8 fW) 

2d volume Southern Literary Messenger, 5 00 

One-fourth of Audubon’s Birds, 165 00 

Audubon’s Birds, 55 (tO. 

No. 1 Indian Biography, (> 00 

North American Review, .5 00 

No. 4 Indian Biography, G 00 

One number of American Scenery, 75 


$250 7,5 

Here is n display of the “ fasliionable }iter:\tnrc in which Mr. 
Secretary Dickerson indulges himself and his clerks, at die public 
expense, I wisii the gentleman from New Yotk. (Mr. C’ambreleng] 
who aided in coneocling the report from which I have just quoted, 
would inform us ‘ what apprppriate relation’ the, books and reviews 
just mentioned have Uo the naval service?’ But, what means the 
item ‘ one-fourth of Audubon’s Birds Why, sir, I understand that 
iteither of the four Secretaries being \Yj]ling ‘ to take the responsibility f 





21 


'* a unit' they agreed to divide it! The cost to the people 
IS the same; it ail comes from the ‘public cotfers;’ And the mode 
«>f doing tlie thing proves that tiie tSecretaries felt tliat its expedi¬ 
ency and propriety were questionable. I have read somewhere, 
perhaps in Sterne’s works, an incident which most happily illus¬ 
trates this transaction. As I recollect tlie story, the Abbess of An- 
douiliets, and Margarctta, a novice, made a little journey together, 
in a vehicle drawn by mules. As the evening approached, they 
were deserted by their muleteer, when ascending a hill. The mules 
presently became stubborn, and stopped. The travellers were 
greatly alarmed, and, in their dilemma, the novice said that there 
were two certain words which, she had been told, would force these 
animals on the moment they heard them ; but then the words were 
sinful, 'riie novice was urged, and she gently whispered the wmrds 
‘bouger’ and ‘fouter.’ 'I'lie Abbess, in her distress, turned casuist, 
and said they were only a venal oiTight sin, which might be divided, 
and by taking half, and leaving the rest, or by taking it all, and ami- 
'f-ably halving it betwixt yourself and another person, wmuld become 
diluted into no sin at all! Therefore, my dear daughter, continued 
ihe Alibcss, 1 w'ill say boil, and thou shalt say ger: r?nd thou shalt 
;^ay foil, and I wall say ter. Accordingly, the Abbess giving the 
pitch note on bou, Margaretta responded ger; Margaret continued 
with foil, and the A.bbess drawled out^er; but still the mules stood. 
They do not understand us, cried Margaretta; but the devil does, 
said the Abbess. And, I think, Mr. Speaker, that these reforming 
Secretaries wuil tind that they are understood in their patent mode of 
reform, and, particularly, that the people wdll not be gulled into tlie 
.!])proval of an unauthorized expenditure, by dividing its amount 
•among the Departments. 

We W'ill now look to the Post Ofhee Department. The General 
l^ost Odice, as it was then called, liad the good fortune not only to 
escape the censure, but to enlist ibc praise of that fault finding era. 
My lirst remark oh this, is that the Post Olhce Department passed 
tuto the hands of General .Tackson in a healthy and efficient state.— 
A few years, under his relbrm, reduced it to chaos and insolvency. 
The present Postmaster General, Amos Kendall, tells us in his 
uccouin of the late destruction of that Department by lire, that all the 
irobks, papers and files of the Department were saved except the 
'-‘iiles” of the “ appointment office,” and these w'ere destroyed! 

Til the lirst six years of General Jackson’s Administration, about 
i:T09 Postmasters w'cre removed from office, and, in most of the 
cases, without the assignmentof any cause. When certain members 
of the committees of tlie Senate and House, appointed in 1833-4, to 
investigate the abuses of that Department, attempted to get at the files 
and correspondence of this “ appointment office,” with a view to 
ascertain and report whether the reasons for these removals w'erc 
prompted bv hiffh and just public considerations, or by mere parly 
political expediency, they were denied the right by the head of the 
Dep:irlment and by the friends of the Administration, who composed 


22 


a majority on one of these committees ! Was not this inquiry . 

1 refer you, sir, to Mr. lienion’s famous report and bill providing for 
the disclosure of reasons in case of removal from otlice. I refer 
you, Mr. Speaker, to your own remarks, and to those of your 
friends, in the debate on Mr. Saunders’ resolution, which 1 liaw 
already quoted. But above all, I refer you to the remarks of the 
illustrious Madison, unrivalled as he w^as in the knowledge of tlwc 
letter and spirit of our Constitution and laws, and in purity and hon¬ 
esty of purpose. As early as 1789, in the memorable debate on tb« 
])ower of the Executive to remove from oflice, he not only denied 
the right to exercise this power capriciously, and without assigning 
adequate reasons, but he thought it wmuld be such a hold assumption 
of lawdess power, that he thus expressed himself,—“ I owm it is an 
abuse of power which exceeds my imagination, and of W'hich 1 can 
form no rjjjtional conception.” 

But when Mr. Van Buren and Mr. Benton (both of whom were 
on the committee which reported the bill to prevent the abuse of thia 
])atronage of appointment) came into power, this changed their lone, 
if not their principles. Removals from office immediately followed, 
and they deny any obligations to assign reasons I Is it not strange,, 
too, nay, is it not mysterious, that, in the conflagration of the Post 
Office, the only papers and flies destroyed should he those relating 
to the exercise, if not the abuse, of the power of removal from office 
—the very papers wdiich the Postmaster General refused to suffier 
tlie committees of investigation to examine? 

I said Mr. Van Buren changed his tone on this subject. I -wilt at 
once prove it. The journal of the Senate shows that he w’as one of 
the select committee who reported the hill already referred to. lie 
entered the office of Secretary of Slate wdth the commencement of 
General Jackson’s Administration. One of his first official acts was 
the removal of a meritorious clerk from his office in that De¬ 
partment, and a positive refusal to assign any reason for it !— 
The gentleman removed is now'^ a member of ihif^ House, (^Ir. Slade, 
of Vermont,) and the voice of the people has sustained him whom 
tlie despotism of Executive patronage sought to destroy. 

The manner in which this patronage is abused, and the readiness 
and almost telegraphic despatch with which the wires of party ma¬ 
chinery are felt throughout and from the most distant parts of the 
Union, may be imagined after reading this laconic note, written by 
Mr. Van Buren, soon after entering on the duties of Secretary of 
State, to a gentleman in Louisiana— 

Washington, April 20, 1829. 

My Dear Sir —I have the honor of acknowledging the receipt of 
yonr letter of the 21st ult., and of informing you that the removals 
and appointments you recommended were made on the day your letter 
was received. 

With respect, your friend, &:c., 

M. VAN BUREN.” 

And, so far from being willing to reduce the number ol‘ clerks m 


23 


feis Department, as the people were induced to believe would be done, 
^'Ir. Van Buren, when called on tor that purpose, saw the whole 
alTair through a new medium, and replied—“ My opinion is that 
there can be no reduction in the number of officers employed in 
tlie Department, (of State,) without detriment to the public inter¬ 
est!!” 

But other discrepancies between the profession and practice of 
these reformers remain to be noticed. It will be found that the 
report of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Cambreleng.) and his 
friends, condemned ‘‘the practice introduced by the Secretaries of the 
Departments, of sending the reports of their clerks or heads of 
bureaus, instead of condensing them, and making them substantially 
their own communication.” This practice, if bad, has never been 
corrected, but is daily indulged in by all the Departments, as tlie 
answers to the calls and resolutions of this House abundantly show. 
But a still more remarkable commentary follows. When the Depart¬ 
ment of War passed into the hands of John H. Eaton, a zealous 
reformer, he, too, was called upon to carry out his retrenchment 
system, and reduce the niimber of his clerks, in fulfilment of the 
public expectation, which he and others had excited. To the sur¬ 
prise of all, he referred the subject to the clerks themselves J mid 
here, sir, is liis reply— 

^‘War Department, Jan. 27, 1830. 

“ Sir: —I have the honor to lay before you, reports from the sev¬ 
eral bureaus connected with the War Department, on the subject of 
a resolution of the 5th inst., referred to me by the Committee on 
Retrenchment. Respectfully, J. H. EATON.” 

“ Charles A. Wickliffe, Esq.” 

These bureaus^ so far from agreeing to part with any of their 
escutcheons., actually ask for an additional supply! Thus ended 
this farce ! 

Jlnother Precept. —This retrencliment report alleged that our 
diplomatic relations and foreign intercourse, were unnecessarily 
expensive, and recommended “ a fixed approptiation tor the contin¬ 
gencies of each mission,” “ in no case exceeding $600, (annually,) 
to cover the expenses of stationary, postage, office, clerk hire, and 
all other contingencies whatsoever.” 

Let us see the practice. Andrew Stevenson, our Minister at 
liondon, is allowed for these contingencies, including ‘ presents to 
the menial officers ami servants of the Court, and others, on his 
presentation, and at Christmas,’ $2,098 56 cts., in the space of 
above a year! The like expenses of nearly all our other foreign 
missions, are in correspondent ratio. 

Profession. —The grade of our Foreign Ministers was to be redu¬ 
ced in some instances, especially that at Madrid, to a Charge, wdth 
a salary of $4,500. 

Practice. —A Minister Plenipotentiary lias been kept at Madrid 
constantly, and John H. Eaton is now there, on a salary of $9,000, 
having also received his outfit of the same amount. And during the 


last session of Congress, an attempt was made to increase llie Siild' 
ries of all our Foreign Ministers 1! Who could have anticipated thi;-) 
from an Adjninistratioii that proclaimed on this lloor, (at least one 
of its most powerful and influential supporteis, the late Mr. llaii-' 
dolph, who joined in the cry of retrenchment hex-e proclaimed, anti 
what lie said received the full approbation of ‘ the party:’) 

“ So long as members of Congress, and not of this House only 
or chiefly, will bow, and cringe, and duck, and fawn, and get 
out of the W'ay at a pinching vote, or lend a helping hand at 
a pinching vote, to obtain these places, 1 never will consent to 
enlarge the salary attached to them. Vic are told that they 
live at St. Petersburg and London, and that living there is very 
expensive. Well, sir, who sent them there ? AVere they impressed, 
sir? Were they taken by a press-gang on Tower-hill—knocked 
down, hand-cufied, chucked on board of a tender, and told that they 
must take the pay and rations which His Majesty was pleased to 
allow?” 

Now I appeal to yon, Air. Speaker, if the moral application of these 
remarks has not been justly felt, in Congress, and not in this House 
only or chiefly, under the retrenchment and reform Administration? 

Jlnother precept of the reforming report .—The committee thought 
the mode of ‘appointing'and compensating bearers of despatches, 
liable to strong objections, prone to degenerate into a species of 
favoriteism, little siiort of a convenient mode of sending favorites 
abroad to travel for their pleasure, health, or instruction, out of the 
public coffers.’ 

Practice .—The President and bis Secretary of State, both Jack- 
son-reformers, now take a favorite clerk of the State Department, 
whose salary at the time vezs at the rate of 8i7b0 per year, send 
him as a bearer of despatches to Mexico, and for about three months’ 
service,pay liim $1212 88,andsnfrer him also todraw his clerk’s salary 
for the period of his absence! For tins 1 refer you to the case of Rob. 
Creenhow, who is the translating clerk of that Department, all the 
facts of the case being stated in the reports of tlie Secretary! Ho 
excuses this transaction, by saying that the translations which were 
required during Mr. Greenhow’s absence, were made at his expense. 
It might be well to inquire whether any translations were required. 
during that period, and M'hy also it would not have been quite as 
well to discontinue the salary for the time, and let the Government 
pay for any translations which were needed. But do we not liero 
distinctly realize wdiat the retrenchment report condemned in these 
words: “that an actual incumbent is considered toliave sucli a sort 
of properly in the office as to enable him to farm out its duties, and 
to receive a part of its revenues for doing notlnng?” 

Another illustration of tins “convenient mode of sending favorite.s 
abroad,” “ out of the public colfers,” is found in the same list of 
contingent expenses of foreign intercourse. I allude to the case-of 
Air. Charles Biddle, Avho, when nominated by General Jackson for 
a judgeship in Florida, was rejected by the Senate. 

Alter this rejection, Air. Biddlo was dispatched by the Exeeut^va 


25 


to Central America end New Grenada. What service he rende'^etj 
Vve know not; but it appears that for this mission, an allowance of 
$7,122 95, has been made. ]\Ir. Charles Biddle is the same genUe- 
man who had a controversy with Mr. Senator Grundy, in which thu 
devotion of the latter to General Jackson was questioned. We learn 
by one of the printed documents, occasioned by lliat dispute, that the 
Senator, for the purpose of proving tiimself to be what is called a 
“whole hog Jackson man,’’ said he “ had swallowed the hog not 
only whole, but \vrong end foremost, taking the bristles against the; 
gram; and had gone for all GCn. Jackson’s bob-tail nominations,' 
even to Cliarles Biddle.” 

You may remember, jMr. Speaker, that great fault was found witli 
Mr. Clay, for an allowance to John II. Pleasants, who Avas employed 
as bearer of despatches, and sat out on his voyage, but, being taken 
ill, Avas obliged to abandon it, ttiough be caused his despatches to be 
vSalcly delivered. In the account, Avhich I am now examining, w(t 
iind the snm of $1,522 72, paid by Mr. Forsyth, the Secretary of 
State, to Eleazer Early, sent Avith despatches to our Charge (I’AF 
fairs at Bogota, but Avhich Avere never delivered. 'JJie sickness of 
IMr. Pleasants fnrnislied no palliation, in the minds of the reformers, 
for the payment made to him, though he caused his despatches to be 
safely delivered. Yet these same gentlemen find ample pretext in' 
the alleged sliipAvreck of Mr. Early, to pay him o5, for expeew 
scs, $527 39, for clothing, bedding, and books, lost or abandoned by 
Iiim, and $714 for one hundred and nineteen days’ compensation^ 
at $n per day, though bis despatches Avere never delivered!! 

At this same time, too, Mr. Early appears to luive been receiving 
a salary of $1,500 a year, as liibrariaii to the House of Kepresenta ^ 
tives ! ! It Avoiild seem that Mr. Secretary Forsyth is not a stranger 
to this “ convenient mode of sending favorites abroad, to travel for 
their pleasure, health, or instruction, out of the public coffers.” 

I also lind that $2,515 arc charged for contingent expenses of 
William T. Barry, late Minister to Spain. Now, sir, it is Avel! 
knoAvn tliat jMr. Barry never reached Spain, but died on liis Avay 
lliere. lie, of course, received the usual salary and outfit, and I anj 
at a loss to knoAv Avhat contingent expenses, incurred by him, could 
justly be charged to the United States. 

There appears, also, to Iiave been paid to .Tohn P. Clay, in 1836, 
$3,381 41, as “compensation for certain diplom^itic services,” 
'Phis gentleman, at that time, lield the place of Secretary of Lega¬ 
tion at St. Petersburg, Avith a salary of $2,000 a year, and the pay¬ 
ment to liiin of the iurther sum of $3,381 41 may be justly ques¬ 
tioned. 

Other items, indicative of extravagance or favoriteism, may be 
seen in this contingent expense account of foreign missions, but I 
Avill not stop to specify them. 

The late eminent and virtuous Attorney General, William Wirt, 
did not escape the censure of these indefatigable reformers. The 
g-alary of tlie Attorney General Avas then 3,500, and be Avas allowed 
$S00 for a clerk. lioAV stands the case noAV ? ’I'he salary of 


26 


Benjamin P. Butler, the present Attorney General, is $4,000, and in 
J834 he was paid $4,150 19 for compensation, besides being allowetl 
61,300 for a clerk and messenger, and $500 for the contingent 
<tx.penses of his office. The same additional allowance and chargjB., 
TRUdimting togetlier to $1,800 is made in 1835. Independent of the 
increased salary, and lire large provision for a messenger, wlienw 
oomes Mr. Butler’s right to charge an excess of $150 19 for com¬ 
pensation, besides $500 for contingent expenses ? In the year 1836 
we heard noiliing of contingent expenses, but a provision of 
$1,407 is made for his clerk and messenger, and for Mr. Butler’s 
ojmpensation that year he received $4,332, when his salary was 
only $4,000. Why was this excess of $332 paid to him? IL® 
?^7pears to liave been used as a sort of Caleb Quotcin. He has 
been allowed to enjoy the salary of his own office, and that of tht* 
Secretary of War, at one and the same time, being at the rate of 
$10,000 per year, pursuing, too, his profession, and receiving its 
emoluments. No wonder ve see in him the ‘complying law officer 
of the crown.’ V/hen did lie ever give an opinion contrary to the 
wish of the President, if he knew what that was ? Let me give an 
flhistration. As tliQ story is told, when the Baltimore railroad wa? 
rffiout to l>e located at its termination in this city, the company con- 
s^jlted Mr. Butler on some point as to this right of way, under their 
iffiarter. After full deliberation, his professional opinion was obtained 
hi writing. It happened that General .Tackson felt some concern 
?d)out the location of this riglitof way, and he expressed an opinion on 
the same point, requiring a termination of the road, which the com¬ 
pany did not wish, and which hlr. Butler had advised them they 
need not adopt General Jackson was furnished with the opinioji 
ri* the Attorney General, but, instead of yielding, he endorsed on iu 
*^Mr. Butler has not examined this case with his usual care; let this 
.paper be referred back to him, with a copy of the cliarter, for his 
re-examination.” In due lime, sir, the Attorney General agrees 
with the President, and gives an opinion in conformity with that 
which General Jackson had expressed! After this, Mr. Speaker, 
we need not be surprised at the absurd opinion of iMr. Butler, given 
as a foundation or justification for General Jackson to pocket the 
bill repealing the Treasury circular, and which had passed botii 
Houses of Congress almost by acclamation. Nor, indeed, should 
we be astonished at any opinion of his, unless he should have liap- 
pened to give one diflererit from what he supposed the President 
wanted. 

I wish, now, to make a few comments on the professions and 
pactice of Mr. Amos Kendall, late Fourth Auditor, and now Post 
Master General. This gentleman, you know, sir, was an eleventh- 
hour Jackson man. He, however, was among the first wlio got 
office ; and immediately after his appointment, a letter of his is pub- 
lialied, in which, after holding himself and a few friends up as having 
been persecuted, he exclaims, “ what has Heaven done ? So dis¬ 
posed of events, as to make Barry Post Master General, and myself 
a mere humble Auditor.” 


27 


But now for this ‘humble Auditor,’ or, as from his own qucsti’O'B, 
he is sometimes called, ‘this Ileaven-borii’ Amos. 

In this letter, he says : 

“ I feel bound by my obligation to my country, and by pledge* 
so often repeated by all the principal men of our party, to promote, 
with all my talents and industry, the reforms w'hicli the Peopk 
demand. 1 will prove that our declarations have not been hollow 
pretences. Besides, I hold the interference of Federal officers wdlii 
JStiite politics, to be improper in principle.” 

For the reform under this last paragraph, I refer you to Mr. Ken¬ 
dall’s letters and toasts, sent to various political meetings and dinne/j* 
tJiroughout the country, for a few years past, on the eve of {Stale 
elections. 

When Air. Kendall entered upon the duties of his Auditor’s Oiricf*, 
he caused to be published in t!ie United Stales 'i'elegraph, a letter, 
in which he says, ‘The interest of the country demands that this 
otlice shall be tilled w'iih men of business, and not babbling' 
politicians.’’ Sir, the wdiole letter was the work of a babbling poli¬ 
tician, expressly designated for political and demagogue ends, which 
the wTiter, in the same breath, said he had quit and left for otiier*! 
I will read a few passages from it. ‘ In five days I have returned to 
fSie post office twenty letters and tliree pamphlets, enclosed to tli* 
Fourth Auditor, and addressed to other persons !’ Ilow long after 
this letter was it, before Mr. Kendall, for the purpose of building iij) 
tlie Globe newspaper, and the fortune of his friend, Francis P. Blair, 
(another eleventh-hour Jackson man,) sent, under his frank, 
Kentucky, a^d perhaps elsewhere, the prospectus of this newspa¬ 
per ? 

In that same letter, Mr. Kendall says : 

‘ Upon entering this office, on Monday last, one of the first objects 
which struck my eye, was a pile of newspapers on my table.— 
Among them, I counted sixteen diflerent papers, all of which I was 
told were subscribed for by the Fourth Auditor, and paid for out of 
l3ie Treasury.’ 

He sent them back, with a note to each; of which the following iss 
a c^py. 

Treasury Department, > 
Fourth Auditor’s Office, March 24, 1829.5 

Sir: —Not believing I am authorized to charge the Government 
with suhsciiptions to newspapers and other publications, which a»e 
not useful to me in the discharge of my official duties ; and not per¬ 
ceiving that I can derive any assistance from your journal in settling 
die accounts of the United States Navy, I have to request that you 
will discontinue sending it to tliis office. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

AMOS KENDALL. 

Here, Mr. Speaker, is a fine display of tlic ‘pride, pomp, and 
Clircumstance’ of office, if not official insolence. But yesterday he 
was himself the editor and publisher of a newspaper—he next 
Appears, in his own language an ‘ humble Auditor.’ But, sir, doe-iB 


hUl I'cller just read, show lie had iorgolten his 
‘liul become pulled uj) with olhcial consequence ! 

Why did he not tell his brother editors, in brief and respectful 
languag'G, that he had discontinued the subscription for their paper ? 

I)Ut a further thought is suggested by this letter of xMr. Amos Kdn- 
dall, and his reason for discontinuing ncwspapt^ subscriptions, llo 
!s now, sir, Post Master General. Suppose we look at the statement 
■of the contingent expenses of his otlice for the last year. Do you 
diink we shall tiiid any subscriptions for newspapers there, ‘ paid 
(Hit of the d'reasury ?’ Listen to a few items : 


vSouthem Literary Messenger, $10 00 

iS’ew York Journal of Commerce, 10 00 

Alleghany Democrat, 14 81 

Pennsylvanian-, 8 00 

Indian Biography, 0 00 

Metropolitan Magazine, 8 00 

'.riiree copies of the Daily Globe !! ! 30 00 

Richmond Elnquirer, 5 00 


laundry others which I will not stop to ilame—- the whole number 
being twenty or upwards, and the total subscription within a small 
fraction of $200. He was frightened at a pile of lo newspapers, 
hut he can now take, 20 at a dose ! Can it be possible that a man, 
wlio came into office declaring, like the Piiarisee of old, that ‘he 
Was not like other men,’ and would even ‘tithe, mint, and cummin,’ 
begins alrcad)' to ‘neglect the weightier matters of the law?’ What 
becomes of his inflated promise ‘t() prove’ that Ids ‘declarations had 
not been hollow pretences V Of what value was his declaration, 
made in his letter before referred to, and in which he says, ‘ Vain I 
may be, proud I am, that the President has given mC an opportunity 
10 aid him in proving that reform is not an empty sound, and is not 
10 apply merely to a change of men V V/hy, sir, I quote as a reply 
to these questions, his own \vords, in another passage of his ovVn 
ietter—‘ TJie world will know him Gt last, and assign him his true 
nink.’ ‘ 'rriilh is omnipotent, and public justice certain.’ 

Among Mr. Kendall’s reforms may be mentioned Ids leading 
agency in the removal of the public deposites from the Bank of the 
United States. To eflect this, lie carried on a S 3 astem of ‘billing 
and cooing’ with the stale banks, and, in the language of a certain 
Senator, (Mr. Benton,) ‘ debauched them.’ ‘ Yes, sir, debauch is 
the word,’ I apply it to the Government and banks, thougli the 
Senator thought the I^cople had been debauched, and applied it to 
them. For this work of ‘ debauch,’ which proved so serious a curse 
to the country, tids agent was employed 32 days, and was paid for 
}iis service tlie sum of $310 1!, being about ten dollars a day for a 
job which has occasioned much of the embarrassment under which 
the country now labors. He got $10 a da\' for doing tids injur}^ to 
the public—a hard-working laborer finds it difficult to get his dollar a 
day. Blit still, Mr. Kendall belongs to the ‘democratic party,’ and 
whilst lie received his $10 a day for that work, he also received the 
regular salary of his office* This appears to be an established usage 


‘20 


cf this Administration, Tlie case of the Attorney Coneral is already 
inenlioned. The reports from the Departments show several othrv 
cases, though 1 will now only add that ol'ihe (’ommissioner of iiithan 
Adairs, who was for a wiiile acting Secretary of War, and during 
this period drew the salaries of each ollice, being at the rate of 
a year. 

liuf, Mr. Speaker, no man better knows all tlie uses of otfu e, 
than Mr. Kendall. 1 have read a political tract, written, 1 think, hy 
Dean Swift, entitled somewhat in this way—‘ 'J'lie convenienctJ of ir. 
})lacc at Court, or a sure mode of providing garments for a wliuU 
family.’ Mr. Kendall appears to understand the ^ modus operand^ 
of this matter. 'J'he printed list of clerks in his Department, exhib¬ 
its his father-in-law and two nephews, with^^salarics of SiOOO,$1*200 
$1100 ; and thus we see a family provision of nearly $10,000 a year, 
including his own salary. But Mr. Kendall is not the only odicer 
\v!io thus takes care of his own household. If provision of this kind 
be evidence of ‘faith,’ few of tiieni will he found ‘infidels.* The 
President’s son lias an ollice, which I have already mentioned, of 
$1500 a year. 'Phe Secretary of State’s son, until very lately, lield 
the place of District Attorney, in Alabama. A near relation by mar¬ 
riage, of (he Sectetary of t’ne Treasury, has a comfortable annuity of 
SHOO in the Navy Department; another liolds tlie appointment of 
naval otlicer in Boston, with a salary ef $.3,000 a year, besides being 
President of the Laf^.yette Bank of that city; and a third is Cashif'r 
of the Franklin Bank of that city, whieii became a special pet under 
the pet hank system. These gentlemen would ail make excelieut 
Suh-Treirsuries ! 

A meinher of the Senate, (.Mr. Grundy,) a zealous friend of Gen. 
Jhf-ksoii, held this language, when aiming to pull down the old 
Administration : ‘ M'heii I see (said he)'an oihce-holder interfering 

i n elections, it has occurred to me that he Avas thinking of his salary, 
said is, llieret'ore, an unfit adviser of the People.’ 

Mr. Speaker, tliat v.'hicli occurred to ]Mr. Grundy, no doubt often 
occurred to yon at the same period. The proposition is a very natu¬ 
ral one, and I think that recent events have strengtiiened lather than 
unpaired its truth. But I beg the further indulgence of tlie IIou^* 
while I read v/liat anotlier (iistinguislicd friend of General .lae.kson 
said, wlien debating the subject of retrenchment and reform on thi> 
floor. I allude to Mr. Buclianan, now a Senator from Pennsylvania, 
and, witli his continued and groxving devotion to the party, what h* 
said will certaiidy be considered ‘ orthodox.’ I tiiid, by that debate, 
that he said it was well known, 

“ 'Fhat when a man is once anpointed to office, all the selfish pa- 
sions of liis nature are enlisted for the purpose of retaining it. '{'hn 
office holders (said he) are tlie enlisted soldiers oi' lliat Administration 
by which tliey are sustained. Their comfortable existence often 
depends on the re-election of their patron. Nor does disappoinlinem 
long rankle in tlie liearts of the disappointed. Hope is still left to 
them ; and bearing disappointment witli patience, they know vviU 
present a new claim to office at a future time,” 


30 


I'his passage of Mr. Buchanan’s speech, proves liim to havie 
Ml observer of men and things, and lamiliar witJi the leading princi^ 
jdes of human action. He dreaded llie consequence of the selfisfi 
spirit of the olhce-holder, and induced the country to believe that 
Ocneral Jackson and his friends would provide a suitable restraint 
upon it. But I fear, sir, the People will be left to conclude that this 
gentleman is one of those ‘political parsons’ described by Mr. Itai> 
dolph, whose f‘practices’do not correspond with his‘precepts.’ It 
is certain that, under the favorite Administration of the gentlenrau 
and his iVlends, the office-holders have received new life, instead of a 
cjieck. But I must yet point out another discrepancy between IVfij. 
Buchanan's profession and practice. In the same debate, he reviewed, 
with censure, several of the foreign missions—that to Russia incl»- 
tied ; and particularly condemned any practice allowed a minister te 
‘ return after one year’s absence.’ His language is—‘ If such a prae- 
tjce should prevail, our ministers, in violation of the spirit of thfe 
enisling law, will receive, by adding the outlit to the salary, $18,000, 
instead of $9,000, for one year’s service.’ ‘ I am,’ said he, ‘ against 
the practice.’ This, Mr. Speaker, was his precept But, sir, in a 
brief space of time, after condemning and saying ‘I am against the 
practice,’ w-e see him lake the bounty, and become one of the ‘enlis¬ 
ted soldiers’ whom he had described, and go on a foreign mission 
to Russia, wdiere, after staying ‘a twelve month and a day,’ he pock¬ 
ets the ‘ $18,000, instead of $9,000, for a year’s service,’ and coiu'oe 
home! 

vSir, has not the country been disappointed ? Have not the people 
been deceived and allured by specious aud vain promises ? Has not 
the federal Executive patronage inordinately increased, and is it not 
iiliil imreslraiaed ? Is not the power over it abused and per¬ 
verted ? Do not the expenses of our General Government fer 
Transcend in amount all our past history? Why are these things 
«(), and why has not this ‘plague been stayed,’ Mr. vSpeaker, accor- 
fiing to your plighted faith ? I will tell you wdiy, sir, but I prefer 
doing so in the language and illustration of one of your own friends^ 
Mr. Buchanan, of the Senate, to wdiom I have before referred. 
liis speech liere, to which I have already alluded, and when he was 
Rssaiilting the (then) administration, he thus exclaimed : “ The wry 
possession of power, has a strong, a natural teiulency to corrupt tlV 
lieart. The lust of dominion grows with its possession, and 
mail who, in humble life, was pure and innocent, and just, has offim 
been transformed by the long possession of power, into a monsfei^. 
In the sacred book, which contains lessons of wisdom for the politi¬ 
cian. as well as the Christian, we find a happy illustration of the oo»- 
rupting influence of power upon the human heart. When Hazae4 
cxime to consult fffiisha whether liis master, the Kiiijr of Syria, woutd 
recover from a dangerous illness, the prophet, looking through t^; 
vista of futurity, saw the crimes of which the messenger, who stooil 
before him, would be guilty, and he wejit. Hazael asked, ‘ why 
weepeth my lord ?’ The prophet then recounted to him the rnurddf^ 
the cruelties of which he would be guilty towards the 


81 


of Israel. Hazael, in the spirit of virtuous indignation, replied, 
thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?’ And ElisllVi 
mi^wered, ‘ The Lord hath shown me that thou shall be King ovfcr 
Syria.’ This man afterwards became King by the murder of liii^ 
master, and was guilty of enormities, the baie recital of which wouki 
make us shudder.’ 

Suppose, Mr. Speaker, some inspired Elisha had been present 
vrlieii you and Mr. Buchanan, with others, engaged in the debatf) 
which has been referred to, and moved by the sympathetic tear of 
the prophet, you had asked, ‘ Why w'eepelh my lord V how woulA 
you have been astonished in being told what the people of this counr 
try have since realized! 

Imagine, sir, the inspired one looking through the vista of a fbw 
brief years and saying, You will be placed in power, but will greatly 
increase the amount of all public^expenditures. You will use tlie offn- 
T/Os and patronage of the country for private and not for public good. 
You will create oflices for favorites. You will enlarge all Execu¬ 
tive power. You will deny the right to call for reasons on a remo¬ 
val from office, and in a few years will remove more than 1501) 
persons from office for opinion’s sake ! You will derange and coi*- 
rupt the Post Office Department, vvhich you now admit lobe sound, 
arid you will not reform any of your designated abuses in the other 
Departments. You will appoint more members of Congress to othco 
in four years than has been done in all the past history of the Go- 
vernrnem. Your bill for the abolition of the power and patronage 
over the Press will sleep the sleep of death. You will retain “ iho 
Press, the Postoffice, the armed force, and the apportioning power 
in tlie hands of the President, and will not suffer them to chaugw 
})Osition and “take post on the side of the People.” You now ceiir 
sure a small appropriation to purchase some additional furniture for 
the President’s house, hut you will furnish that house in luxurious 
style for General Jackson, who will be succeeded by Mr. Van Bi>- 
reii; and he, not content with the second hand furniture of his prediJ- 
(M«sor, wdll cast it off and make his entry into that edifice, with oiw# 
appropriation of 87,300 for alterations of the house and superinteiv 
de»ce of the grounds, and another appropriation of $20,000 for new 
furniture; and this, too, in the very year wlien your public treasury 
will be bankrupt. You will increase the expenses of foreign mis- 
«ions and suffer your Ministers to return home on such brief service, 
as will show their appointments to have been made for individual 
gain rallier than public good. You will increase the contingent ex¬ 
penses of this House from $80,000, the present annual amount, to 
$210,000. You will add to the like expenses of the Senate, and to 
?(!1 other public expenditures in the same ratio ; and that sum total for 
the whole civil list and ordinary appropriations of the Government, 
which is now $12,163,438, will be increased from time to tim* 
HtJiler your boasted reform, until it shall exceed 30,000,000 per year! 

You now question the right of a Department to purchase a print 
er likeness of the immortal Washington, but will decorate every room 
m. aJJ tlie Departments with portraits of Martin Van By[;’en. You 




bv means of the ‘ofTico hohlers,’ the ‘enlisted soldiers," ;is 3 'ou 
hare jnsl called them, bnng the patronage of the General Govern- 
nient into conflict with the Iteedom of elections, and you will resist 
the bill that shall bq brought in to secure the freedom of those elei*- 
lions. You, Mr. Randolph, will go upon what you now call a 
‘•sleeveless errand,’ and, after salnliug the E,mperor of luissia, wall 
nirake a pleasant sojourn in ‘old England,’ and return to your estato 
ill V'irginia. You, Mr, Buchanan, will become an ‘ofFice holder and 
.enlisted soldier.’ go on the very mission to Russia wJiich yon afft 
now censuring, and will pocket the $18,000 for ‘a twelve montli and 
a day’s’ service.’ You, (to the gentlemau from New York) Mf. 
Gambreleng, vrill oppose a vote against tlie very measure which yoti 
now report and recommend, for ledncing the pay of members, as a 
means of shortening tlie session of Congress. You, Mr. fStevonsou, 
v/ill be made Speaker of this House, and appoint its committees, and 
dispense its rules, with a promise of a ibreign mission in your 
pocket. You, Mv. Benton, wjU vote to lay on the table the bill 
wliieh yon now report to take the patronage of tlie press from the 
Government, and your report on the Executive patronage, widi its 
six accompanying bills so imposingly introduced, will prove to hav*; 
been but as ‘sounding brass and tinkling cymbals?’ You, Mr. Vau 
Ruren, who now^ as a member of the committee on Executive patron¬ 
age, report a bill requiring reasons to be assigned for removing an 
incumbent from oflice, wiil be made Secretary of State, and in 
time I’resident, ijut, from the moment you obtain power you will 
forget 3 mur bill, and not only violate but refuse to be governed by it« 
principles. You, ]\Ir. Dickerson, also a member of that-commiiter, 
will be made Secretary of the Navy; but tlie Department wdll be po 
nrismanaged under your direction, that it wdll be truly said of you on 
the floor of Congress, ‘ there is none so poor as to do him reverence.’ 
You, Mr. Woodbury, will take first the Navy and then the Treasury 
Department, and, under your supervision, an attempt to humbug th« 
people with the promise of an exclusive J.ard money currency, will 
re,sult in the banishment of all specie, a bankrupt Treasury, and a 
circulation of shinplai^ters and Treasury notes. 

Imagine, tlien, Mr. Speaker, such a response to have been made?# 
tire period of time v/liich I have suggested. Yfliat would have been 
your reply, and what would Mr. Buchanan, who made tlie scripturid 
atlhisiion. have said ? Alethinivs I almost see and hear him exclaim, 
is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing ? 

Wc are told that, notwithstanding the indignation of ITa?ael, h« 
restche.' the ihrono of Syria by murdering the king his master, ruui 
soon corninitted all the enormities foretold by tire prophet! 

Sir, I fear that, in despite of the protestations of Amos Kcndali, 
the ]nomised ‘reform’ was ‘an empty sound,’ intended to appfy 
merely to a change of men. But I leave it for this House and f?>r 
thd people of this country to judge whether their confidence has .no^ 
hceti betrayed and their hopes disappointed, 

IB 0 '10 . - 




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